Plus: Is this the calm before Bitcoin's storm?

GM. It's time to crush the market lemons into blockchain lemonade - sweet, tangy, and totally worth the squeeze.

🤖 AI agents x DeFi.

🍋 News drops: the final sprinkle of drama from Gary Gensler, the final decisions from Joe Biden + more

🍍 Market flavor today

Find out more about the Fear & Greed Index here.

Crypto Market Cap: $3.48T 3.27% (24H)
Name		Price	24H	7D
	Bitcoin BTC	$98,773.76	2.61%	4.49%
	Ethereum ETH	$3,333.02	3.91%	1.11%
	XRP XRP	$2.90	8.42%	26.02%
	BNB BNB	$700.93	0.70%	1.29%
	Solana SOL	$197.70	6.21%	1.43%

You know those cookie tins that always make you wonder: when I open it, am I actually gonna get cookies, or is it a sewing kit again? That's what today feels like. Matter of fact, that's what every day in crypto feels like.

The Fear & Greed Index is holding steady in Greed at 70, while Bitcoin crossed $98K today.

Markus Thielen from 10x Research says that BTC is trading within a narrowing wedge pattern, which means its highs are getting lower, and its lows are getting higher. This pattern usually leads to a breakout - either upward or downward.

Source: BitDegree

Several factors could influence this breakout - one of which is the Consumer Price Index (CPI) report that measures inflation. Expectations leaned toward a higher inflation number, but (!):

• Core CPI rose 0.2%in December - lower than estimates;

• Year-on-year core CPI eased to 3.2% - also a surprise decline.

Plus, in December, the US Producer Price Index (PPI) came in below expectations - it rose 0.2% month-over-month and 3.3% for the year.

What does any of this mean? Inflation seems to be cooling off, which the market loves because it feeds our hopes that the Fed won't increase interest rates.

Thielen expects Bitcoin to remain in its current range until mid-March.

However, once again, that wedge pattern hints at a breakout - and it's likely gonna happen before the Fed's January 29 meeting.

Btw, Thielen dropped some advice: don't try to guess the direction. Follow the breakout when it happens, keep positions small, and play it safe.

And you know what? Even if it is a sewing kit - maybe it's a good opportunity to stitch together something useful. Like a massive wallet. Just in case.

🥝 Memecoin harvest

Some tokens don't just moon - they tryna start their own solar system 🚀

	Name		24H Change
	sora labs SORA		▲ 16K%
	DTRXBT by Virtuals DTRXBT		▲ 454%
	Toshi TOSHI		▲ 89%
	Eliza ELIZA		▲ 33%

Data as of 06:20 AM EST.

Check out these memecoins and plenty more here.

🤖 Let's talk buzzwords: AI Agents

AI agents have been the talk in crypto for quite some time now (and for good reason). These are smart programs that pretty much just do their thing - build apps, launch tokens, interact with humans, etc etc.

And everybody and their mama believes that this year, the AI Agent narrative will be even bigger.

• In their 2025 predictions, VanEck said they expect over 1M new AI agents;

• Franklin Templeton, a global asset manager, predicts AI agents will revolutionize content creation on social media - they might become kinda like digital influencers, launching their brands and making $$$ for their ecosystems.

TL;DR: exciting stuffs incoming.

Actually, scratch the "incoming" - AI agent projects are already giving main character energy. Franklin Templeton dropped a list of some of the biggest projects, and we're passing the tea over to ya:

More specifically, let's take a quick look at Eliza (ai16z's AI agent OS). According to a white paper, Eliza is a framework built to integrate Web3 apps seamlessly into AI agent functionalities.

With projects like that, it's gonna become ridiculously easy to create wild AI Agents ridiculously soon... but why should we care?

Combine AI with DeFi - and you've got yourself something beautiful (call it DeFAI if you're crazy like that).

Daniele Sesta, founder of Frog Nation, points to these three game-changing use cases:

1. AI as an interface to DeFi: no more endless clicking. Just use commands like, "Swap 3 ETH for USDC," and the AI does the job for you;

2. Autonomous DeFi agents: agents that can manage your wallet and execute complex strategies from a single command. Example: you could say, "Bridge my ETH to Base, swap half for USDC, create a liquidity pool, and send it back to my wallet." And booyaka, the AI handles everything - securely, cheaply, and efficiently;

3. Research agents: need the best yield strategy? The agent will pull info from on-chain explorers, GitHub, market data, and more, then deliver a clear plan.

Crazy, right? At this pace and with tools like these, all those Jarvis memes are starting to feel less like haha and more like a glimpse into tomorrow.

🍋 News drops

⏰ Ripple's CLO Stuart Alderoty confirmed the SEC isn't gonna delay the filing of a brief in their appeal to overturn a previous court decision. The decision in question: certain XRP sales don't count as securities. Guess Gary Gensler's making sure to stir the pot one last time before he clocks out.

😠 Speaking of, SEC Chair Gary Gensler, who's out the door in six days, said the 2024 election wasn't swayed by crypto money. Of course, he also didn't miss the chance to call the industry a highly speculative and non-compliant field.

🌱 President Joe Biden, leaving office next week, signed an executive order to accelerate AI development in the US. It directs federal agencies to lease land for private companies to build AI systems focused on clean energy.

🇰🇭 Cambodia's Huione Group, linked to a massive illegal online marketplace, has launched its own stablecoin, USDH. Their subsidiary, Huione Guarantee, is running a platform that's allegedly used by criminals for scams, money laundering, and even human trafficking.

🎟 Referral codes, sign-up bonuses, and other crypto goodies you didn't know you needed - we've got 'em all in one place. Take a look!

🍌 Juicy memes

Source: @naiivememe

Source: @naiivememe

Source: @CryptoTea_